CII.
Hanover, Germany, Oct. 20, 1854.
Since I wrote you from Frankfort, I have visited Hesse Cassel.
The chateau of Wilhelmshohe, the summer residence, about three miles from town, with its hydraulics, and the effect produced by the cascades and jets d’eau, are superb. The great cascade is nine hundred and fifty feet long, and forty feet wide, interrupted by basins from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet apart, as the water descends from a high hill, the summit of which is covered by an octagon tower, surmounted by a colossal Hercules of bronze, club in hand, thirteen feet high. Walking through the grounds alone, I could scarcely realize the fact that twelve years had elapsed since I climbed up the height and peeped out of a little opening within the huge club which the gigantic figure holds in his hand; that I had wandered, since, nearly twice around the globe; had been exposed to all the accidents and casualties of life, in every variety of climate; and that I found myself, through a protecting Providence, on the same spot again. I should not have made these remarks but from hearing of the frightful loss of life by the steamer Arctic, in which I came last to Europe, and have reason to believe that four of my fellow-travellers, who were in Rome during the Holy Week, and who accompanied me in excursions from Naples, have perished. I was waiting the departure of a steamer from that city to Leghorn, when we heard of the frightful catastrophe, and sinking of the Ercolano by the steamer Siciliano, an affair similar to the one just mentioned. This deterred these persons, among others, from taking the sea route, and they left by land. My logic has been, usually, after an accident, to take the same means of conveyance, as more care is then exercised.
From Cassel, I went by post to Gottingen, famed for its University, with some six hundred pupils, and its extensive library.
The contrast between the railroad travel of the present day, with its rapid transition from one city to another, and the slow mail coach of the past, was striking; and I was reminded fully of my first journey through Austria, Hungary, Prussia, and Saxony, by all sorts of fast and slow conveyances, when all the countries named had not two hundred miles of railway. It was certainly tedious, and occupied much time; but the country was seen to better advantage, and the halts at small towns and villages were entertaining and instructive, and gave a better idea of the people and their customs than the present lightning line of communication.
Although great improvements have been made, the people seem to toil as formerly for the necessaries of life, and the weaker sex is made to bear largely its share of the burden.
Not only are fine-looking, healthy girls seen constantly in the fields, performing men’s labor, but in the cities they perform the most menial service of wood-sawing, sweeping streets, and loading carts with offal. How often I think of our blessed country, the paradise of women, and the thousand advantages they enjoy there, in comparison with their sisters in continental Europe. Not only is the sex compelled to perform a full quota of the service, but the brute creation must also perform its part. I have often thought how odd it would appear with us, to see the butchers’ and bakers’ carts, and milk wagons, drawn by collared and harnessed dogs, and the novel sight of single cows, or spans of cows, coming to town with loads of grain or vegetables. The truth is, when carpenters and masons obtain but fourteen groschens, or forty-two cents, per day, and laborers from twenty-five to thirty cents, and the necessaries of life are at the present dear rates, every measure is resorted to for earning an honest living.
The lager, or encampment, of fourteen thousand men, is situated in the suburbs of the city. The citizen army is composed of thirty thousand men.
We have just had a sham fight, which was seen to great advantage from a hill in the vicinity of the plain upon which the manœuvre took place, and gave a good idea of the battle-field. The approach of the marching forces, to the sound of drum and fife, and shrill tones of the bugle, and the bayonets glittering in the sun’s rays, were exciting. The cavalry was led by the king in person. Then came the conflict, the thundering noise of the cannon; the continued volleys of musketry from the infantry; the reconnoitring movements of the riflemen; the dashing charges of the horsemen, half-buried in smoke; the retreats, the reforming of the ranks; the advantages gained and lost; the leaps of the horsemen over artificial stockades and sloughs of water; the queen and royal family, with liveried outriders, drawn by and mounted upon magnificent steeds, hovered around the borders of the battle-field.
The thousands of citizens on this festival day crowning the heights, and the enthusiasm manifested, gave interest to the scene.